Tomas, Lord of Palmela

Thomas, Lord of Palmela (1527-1557) was a Portuguese nobleman who was the illegitimate son of King Joao III of Portugal. In 1557, he promised to send a ship full of Portuguese troops to assist Scotland against England in exchange for the hand of Mary, Queen of Scots in marriage, nearly forcing her to cancel her betrothal to Prince Francis of France. However, Thomas was discovered to have assisted the English in ambushing French troops before they could be sent to aid Scotland (fearing that the execution of French aid would lead to Mary continuing her betrothal to Francis), and he was confronted and killed by Francis himself.

Biography
Tomas was born in 1527, the illegitimate son of King Joao III of Portugal. He was granted land and title by his father, who made him Lord of Palmela; he later intended to legitimize him in order to make him his heir. Tomas was briefly married before his wife died of influenza, and, in 1557, when he visited France on a trade mission (seeking French timber for ships), he took a liking to Lady Greer of Kinross. He also met Mary, Queen of Scots, who promised that Scotland would send lumber to Portugal in exchange for military assistance against an English invasion. Tomas agreed, but he also had Mary secretly agree to marry him instead of Prince Francis of France, arguing that France had proven to be a poor ally for Scotland, and that he would one day become King of Portugal, as the Catholic Church had allowed for his father to legitimize him. When Thomas discovered that Francis had convinced his father, King Henry II of France, to send six companies of French troops to assist Scotland, Thomas feared that his arrangement with Mary would be cancelled in favor of Mary continuing her betrothal to Francis. Thomas responded by warning the English about Sebastian de Poitiers' planned expedition to Scotland, and the English ambushed and massacred the six French companies, while De Poitiers was gravely wounded. Francis then gave Mary permission to marry Tomas, and Tomas then sent a ship of his men for Scotland. The English diplomat Simon Westbrook was arrested and sentenced to death after he was blamed for informing the English about De Poitiers' planned relief of the Scots, but Mary, Francis, and De Poitiers soon deduced that Tomas stood the most to gain from the warning of the English, as it allowed him to further his own progress with Mary. Francis and Sebastian confronted Thomas as he was about to kill his whipping boy, who was aware of his and Mary's plans, and a fight then broke out in a poppy field, resulting in Francis himself slaying Thomas and putting an end to the plot.